August 1, 2008
Our last day of school. I need to get money for David and for lunch so before class, I walk down to the ATM to get money out. I put in my card, ask for my money and the cajero automatico (ATM) takes my card because apparently it expired yesterday!!!! What am I going to do?! I walk home and think of my options.
I send the kids to class and go to the bank to try to get my card back. The bank that took my card is Banco Popular (why am I not surprised) and it is in the middle of town. I get there a few minutes before 8am and find out the bank doesn't open until 9am. I walk to the where the taxis are and take one to class.
Note: I thought I had no money at all but Leehia reminded me there was some money in Kasondra's suitcase we brought back from our last trip. Yeah! So I had a little over 5,000 colones or $10.
I went to class until 9am and then took a taxi back to the bank. When I went in, the manager told me that he would have my card at 2pm because the ATM is across town and they need to go retrieve it. I am about to cry (but don't). I am walking back to the taxi line when I see a Western Union sign. I go in and tell the guy about my problem and ask him how I can get some money. He tells me that someone in the US can go to a Western Union with cash and I can receive it immediately. They just need to tell them my name and that I am in Costa Rica. Bueno! I walk over to the internet cafe and call mom, of course! Mom saves the day and goes directly to the Western Union and sends me $200.00. I call to confirm before I head back to the Western Union in Turrialba and she says everything is done. I go back to the guy and he tries to find the wire. He can't find it anywhere. He lets me call mom and she has the transaction number. We are able to find it that way. The problem was that the guy at the Western Union in CA put my name as Melissa Kathleen Perez and in Costa Rica the last name is the 2nd name, so my last name is Kathleen. Anyway, I received the cash and went back in a taxi to class.
Class was fairly short as this took a while and they let us out a little early because we were graduating and receiving our certificate. After that, we walked to Betty's for our last meal in Turrialba and the kids (Jenna) actually caught on the the cats in the cage. We took pictures with Betty and took a taxi home to finish packing.
Packing went fairly smoothly and at 2pm, I had to go over to Banco Popular and try to get my card back. The manager remember me and it was very easy. I don't know why I actually need it because it is expired but, oh well. After, I went to the store and bought a birthday present for Jimena, Leehia's granddaughter whose birthday was 2 days before and went to a flower shop to buy an arrangement for Leehia. As I walked back to the house, David pulled up. Perfect timing. David loaded our bags into the van and I took a picture of the kids with Leehia. Off to San Jose and the Marriott!
We made really good time considering there is a huge fiesta happening in Cartago...a pilgrimage that happens every year. People walk from all over Costa Rica (some days, even weeks) to Cartago and the Basilica there. It is all over the news. Anyway, we arrived at the Marriott and we are very pleasantly surprised. It is VERY nice! There is carpet in the rooms, hot water and water pressure, nice linens, air conditioning, internet access, TV and phone. Kasondra was so happy she actually started crying.
We ordered room service for dinner (yes, room service) and enjoyed relaxing in the room. Everyone was in bed by 9pm. We are going to relax at the hotel tomorrow, enjoy the swimming pool and just try to take a break. Our flight leaves at 8:55am on Sunday so we'll need to be up early. I guess everyday is just another adventure. I can't believe I came to a foreign country and didn't look to see when my ATM card expired!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Day 24 - July 31, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The last day of July. Where does the time go? We only have 2 more days left of school. This picture is of Jenna on our walk home. I went into town this morning and paid my exit tax (taxes so we can leave Costa Rica). It costs $26.00 per person or $130.00 in all. Thank God for ATM or we might just have to stay here. After school we went to Betty's again but we had to be quick because Jenna, Abbey and Q were going canyoning again so we needed to be at Soda la U by 1:30pm ready to go. Kasondra went home in a taxi. This time we had a few other families with us and it wasn't as much fun. I stayed in the warehouse and did my homework. I have to do a presentation in class tomorrow. 
We got home about 5:30pm and the kids had soup for dinner and I started to pack. It should be interesting to see if we can fit everything in our suitcases.
Jenna is packing her stuff too and is pretty happy everything fits.
Jenna is packing her stuff too and is pretty happy everything fits.David is picking us up at 3pm tomorrow and taking us to the San Jose Marriott. It is really close to the airport. Our plane leaves at 8:55am on Sunday morning. I found out today another family is on our same flight. How funny huh? I was thinking of going to the zoo on Saturday but we might just veg by the pool instead. We'll see how it goes. I am going to take pictures of Betty's cocina and Betty tomorrow. Also my school and our mama Tica. Well, I better get going because I still have a lot to pack!
Day 23 - July 30, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
School again. Today, we ate at Betty's and the kids tried to catch a cat that is in the back. The cat is wild but they are having a good time trying. We walk back toward home to go to the souvenir shop to get a few gifts and then we head to the ice cream shop. It looks like it's going to rain pretty soon so we hurry up. There's a clothing store that has a gum ball machine and Abbey and Quinten have been after me to go
there so we finally do. It's starts to rain as we head home. We have about two hours until we need to be at Betty's so we rest and I do my homework. Kasondra is resting on my bed in the picture. The other picture is of the TV room where Jenna and Q are watching some TV (in Spanish). The last picture is of Abbey and Kasondra's room.
The picture with all the kids is on our walk home.We leave for Betty's cooking class at 5:45pm and take a taxi because it's raining. Betty has the kids make cookies again and they loved it! Quinten is busy making cookies in this picture.
We got home about 8pm and everyone got ready for bed. We are all exhausted because we pretty much have something to do every day.
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Day 22 - July 29, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Today is school again as usual. Kasondra is being moved into a higher class...beginning level 2. There are 2 other adults in her class. After school today, we have a field trip to the Serpentaria. We will learn about snakes. Here is a picture of leaf cutter ants. They are all over C
osta Rica. They cut leaves from larger plants and take them to their home. It is pretty cool to see the line of ants with their leaves. I like them because they are always working hard and not trying to bite me. We saw these leaf cutter ants at the Serpentaria.
osta Rica. They cut leaves from larger plants and take them to their home. It is pretty cool to see the line of ants with their leaves. I like them because they are always working hard and not trying to bite me. We saw these leaf cutter ants at the Serpentaria.
At the Serpentaria, the guide started to lecture in Spanish about the snakes with everyone sitting on benches. The kids lasted about 5 minutes before we had to leave the lecture and walk arou
nd. He lectured for an hour. Definitely not kid friendly. After that however, the kids got to see the snakes and he even took out a few smaller, non poisonous snakes for everyone to hold. There are a lot of kids (younger ones) with the school now. I think there are 8 kids including Abbey and Q in the kinder now. It got pretty crazy.
nd. He lectured for an hour. Definitely not kid friendly. After that however, the kids got to see the snakes and he even took out a few smaller, non poisonous snakes for everyone to hold. There are a lot of kids (younger ones) with the school now. I think there are 8 kids including Abbey and Q in the kinder now. It got pretty crazy.
We got back to Soda la U about 4:30pm and took a taxi back to the house. I was not in the mood to walk a mile in the rain without any umbrellas. When we got back to the house, Abbey took a shower and then we ate sopa again (chicken soup with rice). After that, I did my homework and gave Quinten a shower and bribed the kids with candy if they were good so I could go to the internet cafe and update my blog. So here I am and it's almost 8:30 so I bet the kids are asleep by now. But, my blog is current. Yeah!!!! We only have 3 more days of school and David is picking us up on Friday to take us to San Jose. I can't believe it's almost over but I am excited about coming home. The kids were really ready to come home this week but I think this week Kasondra is starting speak more Spanish and one more week will mean a lot. Gotta go now.
Day 21 - July 28, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
School again as usual. I now have 2 other students in my class, Elisa and Kathy. Kathy is a nurse who is going to school to be a anesthesiologist. She is from Huntington Beach. We have moved to the intermediate book. Yeah for us! Kasondra and Jenna are going horseback riding again today. They are really looking forward to it. We eat at Soda la U because they are being picked up there at 1:30pm. They go horseback riding and Abbey, Q and I walk into town. The kids want to get a gumball at this store in town. It is still a long walk even though we've been doing it for a while. We finally get to the store and it is closed for Guanacaste day. We decide to go to POP's for an ice cream and so the kids can play on the train and motorcycle. After ice cream, we go home and wait for Kasondra and Jenna.
Today, I need to make that stupid Friendship Bread again. It is my last time. Yeah! The kids get all mad when I tell them I am not taking any back with me when we come home. I make the bread while Leehia's daughter-in-law takes notes on how to make it. It's really funny when they say, "mush". Leehia's daughter-in-law is going to try to make it too. I am going to give one to my teacher also. Leehia will have 2 left over to do whatever she wants. I don't think she plans to bake the bread but who knows!
Kasondra and Jenna get home from horseback riding and it wasn't as much fun as last time because the horses were faster and the guide didn't want them getting out of control. Kasondra doesn't feel well and I think she has a fever. We walk to the store and buy some chicken soup for dinner. Then, everyone wants chicken soup. We buy chicken soup with stars and chicken soup with alphabet letters. Leehia asks if we want rice with it and I say yes. She added the rice to the soup. I was surprised but it actually tasted really good. We had Friendship Bread for dessert. I had Kasondra take some motrin and she went to bed early. We are all tired. We go hard and fast every day. I finished my homework and went to bed too.
School again as usual. I now have 2 other students in my class, Elisa and Kathy. Kathy is a nurse who is going to school to be a anesthesiologist. She is from Huntington Beach. We have moved to the intermediate book. Yeah for us! Kasondra and Jenna are going horseback riding again today. They are really looking forward to it. We eat at Soda la U because they are being picked up there at 1:30pm. They go horseback riding and Abbey, Q and I walk into town. The kids want to get a gumball at this store in town. It is still a long walk even though we've been doing it for a while. We finally get to the store and it is closed for Guanacaste day. We decide to go to POP's for an ice cream and so the kids can play on the train and motorcycle. After ice cream, we go home and wait for Kasondra and Jenna.
Today, I need to make that stupid Friendship Bread again. It is my last time. Yeah! The kids get all mad when I tell them I am not taking any back with me when we come home. I make the bread while Leehia's daughter-in-law takes notes on how to make it. It's really funny when they say, "mush". Leehia's daughter-in-law is going to try to make it too. I am going to give one to my teacher also. Leehia will have 2 left over to do whatever she wants. I don't think she plans to bake the bread but who knows!
Kasondra and Jenna get home from horseback riding and it wasn't as much fun as last time because the horses were faster and the guide didn't want them getting out of control. Kasondra doesn't feel well and I think she has a fever. We walk to the store and buy some chicken soup for dinner. Then, everyone wants chicken soup. We buy chicken soup with stars and chicken soup with alphabet letters. Leehia asks if we want rice with it and I say yes. She added the rice to the soup. I was surprised but it actually tasted really good. We had Friendship Bread for dessert. I had Kasondra take some motrin and she went to bed early. We are all tired. We go hard and fast every day. I finished my homework and went to bed too.
Day 20 - July 27, 2008
July 27, 2008Sunday morning. Everyone slept really late. Even Abbey and Quinten didn't wake up until after 8am. We had breakfast at the hotel and then packed our stuff. We are heading to the Volcano today but we need to check out of the hotel first. We head to the national park where you can walk to some volcanic rocks and get pretty close to the volcano. I have no desire to walk another couple miles today but okay here I go again. Giovanni is still showing us different snakes and stuff. Quinten is tired today and Jose puts him on his shoulders and walks most of the way there. As you can see from the sign, we are walking in a zone of volcanic activity. This volcano is very active and you can see rocks falling from the top of the volcano. While we are walking, we hear the volcano rumble. It is kind of creepy. We finally get to the volcanic rock and the kids go tearing across them. I stay back a little and take some pictures. In case I wasn't sure before, it is clear that I am NOT a great eco-tourist. Bugs and hiking are great but definitely not for me.
In the picture, you can't see very well but the kids are to the right of the volcano and that is smoke coming from the volcano.
In the picture, you can't see very well but the kids are to the right of the volcano and that is smoke coming from the volcano.We walked back the way we came and we into Fortuna for lunch. Abbey and Jenna both fell asleep waiting for their food (I almost did too). I told you the service was slow. After lunch, we headed back to Turrialba. The trip took us 4 hours. Jose was driving like pretty fast and it was foggy and rainy. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. We made it back to our home in one piece. We arrived just before 6pm and Leehia made us dinner. The kids were really tired and didn't eat very much. Everyone was is bed by 8pm.
Day 19 - July 26, 2008
July 26, 2008We wake up in the hotel room and it has been raining all night. We are supposed to go to the hanging bridges and then to the Baldi Hot Springs in the afternoon. I have no desire to walk on hanging bridges in the rain. I get up and take a shower and Abbey and Quinten are already up. We go down to breakfast about 8am and leave Kasondra and Jenna to sleep. The breakfast is included in the room rate and is a buffet. The kids have plenty to choose from. Giovanni meets us at breakfast and I tell him that I don't want to go walking in the rain. He suggests that we switch Baldi to the morning and the bridges for the afternoon. It's a great idea and it is just what we do. Who cares if it is raining while you are in the hot springs?
The hot springs is really nice. The water is heated by the volcano. They have water as hot as 152 degrees but they also have cooler water. They have some slides that I heard were pretty dangerous and of course the kids want do those. I let Jenna try it first and she comes down really fast. It was really funny. After Jenna comes Abbey and is even funnier. They don't get hurt or anything and want to do it again.
Quinten wants to do it too. There is a straighter slide and I let Quinten try that one. He gets to the top but doesn't want to go down the slide but won't come back to the water either. Jenna finally gives him a nudge so we can go somewhere else. He was mad at first but then wanted to go again. I said no. Baldi Hot Springs has a swim up bar and so we all get a soda. After the soda, the kids swim a little more but then we decide to get changed and have lunch.
Quinten wants to do it too. There is a straighter slide and I let Quinten try that one. He gets to the top but doesn't want to go down the slide but won't come back to the water either. Jenna finally gives him a nudge so we can go somewhere else. He was mad at first but then wanted to go again. I said no. Baldi Hot Springs has a swim up bar and so we all get a soda. After the soda, the kids swim a little more but then we decide to get changed and have lunch. 
Service in Costa Rica is not fast and in the restaurant we had a hard time getting a menu let alone our meal. As you can see, Quinten didn't make it through lunch.
After lunch, we went to the hanging bridges. It takes about 2 hours to walk through the hanging bridges and Giovanni gave us each a map. It was a really, really long way. Kasondra and I were both exhausted but Abbey, Q and Jenna had a bunch of energy and Giovanni kept up with them. He showed them a bunch of different seeds from the trees. Some are really big. We also were able to see some spider monkeys in the trees and a tree frog and some other stuff I don't remember. At the end (finally), we saw a toucan. We tried to take a picture but it kept flying to another branch. By the time we finished, the souvenir shop was closed (bummer!). I think Albert will be happy about that. We got back in the car and headed to the town of Fortuna for dinner and souvenir shopping.
We had dinner and headed back to the hotel. We were so tired the kids didn't even ask to swim. 
When we got to our room, Kasondra found frogs outside. They all had a great time catching frogs for a while. Kasondra said that you just shuffled your feet in the grass and wait for them to jump and then you go after them. Here is picture of Kasondra and Jenna with 2 of the frogs they caught. Quinten almost let one lose in our room! After that excitement, everyone got into their jammies and fell asleep in a matter of minutes.
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